French-speaking bookworms run Jordanian version of Goncourt prize

AMMAN — Turning away from the iconic literary classics traditionally taught in schools, a local initiative is inspiring French-speaking book lovers to acquaint themselves with the latest French literary publications.

Participants in the Jordanian version of the Goncourt prize — France’s top literary prize — recently voted for their favourite novel for the year 2018, after exchanging regularly throughout the month of October.

“I am really a big reader and it is always nice to meet other people with the same interest and discuss about French books,” Samira Moutakil, a French teacher at the Hashemite University and the French Institute in Jordan (IFJ) told The Jordan Times.

For Samah Abu-Ghazaleh, a former student at the IFJ, “this cultural activity is a great opportunity to cultivate my mind and expand my social circle, as well as, of course maintain my French language”.

Participating for the second time in the yearly event, she told The Jordan Times that this brings her “cultural richness and quality time discussing and hearing ideas and different ways of thinking”.

Organised for the third consecutive year by the IFJ and the cultural section of the French embassy, the selection aims to “spread the culture of reading and French literature among Jordanians”, according to Lola Biais, in charge of the IFJ library and organiser of the event.

“When learning a language, people tend to read the classics, the most famous masterpieces, but not the contemporary work. With this initiative, they get to keep in touch with the current literature and the latest French publications,” she told The Jordan Times after the event.

While being open to the public with no specific restriction, Biais said that most of this year’s participants were French teachers from across the Kingdom, exclusively women, “just like last year!”

“We met to discuss our opinions, our views on the different books selected in the official 2018 Goncourt Prize, before voting for our favourite novel. I didn’t set any criteria for the vote as I truly believe that everyone has his/her own reading of a piece, looking at it with their own baggage, their personal interpretation,” she continued, noting that this year’s winner was “Frère d’âme” by David Diop.

Given by the 10-member Académie Goncourt to an author with “the best and most imaginative prose work of the year”, the Goncourt prize differed in its decision, awarding Nicolas Mathieu’s “Leurs enfants après eux” (Their Children After Them), according to its website. 

Mathieu’s novel tells the stories of a group of adolescents over the span of four summers in the 1990s, while Diop’s work takes a heart-wrenching look at the notion of humanity, through the lens of a Senegalese rifleman on a descent into madness during World War I.

French Ambassador in Amman David Bertolotti, who has been involved in the event since its inception, highlighted the importance of this “moment of exchange and debate between French-speaking Jordanians”, citing the Prix Goncourt as “a major event in the French literary landscape”.

The ambassador noted that all the books selected by the Académie Goncourt are available at the IFJ library “for the public to enjoy”.